Off the bucket list- see a person die, and then be revived, in a Korean emergency room….

Yup, but that happens at the end….


First, this entry will have no pictures, so you will have to use your imagination! Last night I went to bed with abdominal pain and woke up at 11:50 PM with severe pain. I thought it might be my appendix, but higher, and with no fever. Luckily our school nurse was here at the dorm and could go with me to the emergency room of our local hospital- Fatima.

http://fatima.or.kr/eng/main/main.asp

We get in the cab with super gas/break guy who gasses for 1 second, then hits the breaks, gas, break, gas, break… OUCH! We pull up at the ER and we are ushered right in. Into one big happy room with 10 beds all about 2 feet apart- just wide enough for the IV drip pole that they put right in. The doctor on duty comes over and starts feeling my stomach, which is killing and decides I need the full battery- EKG, chest X-Ray, CT scan, urinalysys, the works. He calls over the nurse who grabs the IV pole and takes off towards the chest X-ray room- she really zooms, not noticing that I am hunched over like a hobbit trying to follow her…

The doctor also asks for a urine sample, hands me a tiny paper cup and points me out to the lobby.  The only bathroom for the entire ER is out in the lobby and it is one old-fashioned bathrooms with a sink, no paper towels, and a separate stall.  The only problem is that the IV drip pole is taller than the door to the stall, so the IV has to stay outside!  Not only that but you can't shut the door because then you will impede the drip and probably cause an air bubble that will swiftly go straight to your brain and kill you... there in the lobby potty.  Add to that, that the IV is in my right hand, so I have to keep it crossed in front of me because the tube isn't long enough to reach in to the potty.  So there I am, right hand crossed in front, door wide open, reaching for the TP with the left hand, and trying to pee into this teeny-tiny cup... see why there are no picures?!?

Lots of scans, tests, poking, catheterization, and nothing is wrong. Actually the doctor comes over to tell me how healthy I am and asks if I am sure I have a pain! Um… yeah, pretty sure!

Around 4 AM the doctor comes back and says that the tests all came back fine, but they would like the CT specialist to look at the scan when he arrives at 9:30 AM. OK, no problem- the school nurse returns to the dorm and I am alone… in an ER…. In Korea…

Luckily I have Bill Bryson to keep me company (thanks, Chuck!) because they do not dim the lights, EVER in the ER… or turn off the beeping….

Around 6AM this cute little Korean nun comes over to me smiling and with a blanket… I get tears in my eyes, either because I think of Aunt Claire the nun or I am at the part where Bill is talking about being on a plane and bending down to tie his shoe at the exact moment that the person in front of him throws his seat back into a full recline and pins him in the crash position and it hurts so bad to laugh…

Gary arrives just as the doctor comes back and informs me that I have an inflammation in my abdomen and they will give me a scrip for some anti –inflammatory medication. He goes to write it and release me, when the guy diagonal from me dies.

Now I can laugh, but at the time it was not good- his poor grandson was calling and shaking him and everybody swarmed him. They started doing chest compressions, but way faster than I learned in water rescue CPR. We learned one and two and three and four and breathe. These guys were like 123412341234…. They had him behind a screen, but still in the big room, and people were rushing in and out, even my little nun was hustling in there…I guess it worked because they had him back hooked up to oxygen and machines about 10 minutes later.

OK, finally being released and I notice a strange thing- they do not wear gloves here… it is not like everything is neatly contained, I mean when they take out the IV some drops fly… but no one really minds. They tell me to just take my cotton swab over to the orange hazardous waste box and just toss it in…

...anyway, I am glad to be home… and looking forward to our spring break trip to Jeju Island...